PJO: A different mindset
by D.w.w.h.t.WAntihero
Summary: After being defeated by Luke at Princess Andromeda at the end of the Sea of Monsters, Percy Jackson undergoes intensive training at Camp Half Blood to better prepare to the prophecy. Starts in the final part of the Sea of Monsters book and goes onward. Probably a multipairing.


**This fiction explores a "what if scenario" during the final part of the Sea of Monsters book. The premise is quite simple though, Percy realizes he made a mistake in not staying training at Camp Half Blood and decides to resign of his mortal life to focus on preparing for the prophecy. As you read this chapter you'll find most of the writing similar with the original story, the reason why I did that is a belief that this story will develop better if I start making small changes, which will gradually turn into bigger ones as the story develops. This will be my attempt in making a somewhat reasonable multi pairing fiction and adding my own twists to the story. **

**Also,the disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this series, nor the books, all rights reserved to Rick Riordan.**

* * *

"One on one," I challenged Luke. "What are you afraid of?" I knew the son of Hermes was not to be toyed with, but I was confident, last summer I defeated the Ares himself, how difficult it could be?

Luke curled his lip. The soldiers who were about to kill us hesitated, waiting for his order. Before he could say anything, Agrius, the bear-man, burst onto the deck leading a flying horse. It was the first pure-black pegasus I'd ever seen, with wings like a giant raven. The pegasus bucked and whinnied. I could understand his thoughts. He was calling Agrius and Luke some names so bad Chiron would've washed his muzzle out with saddle soap.

"Sir!" Agrius called, dodging a pegasus hoof. "Your steed is ready!"

Luke kept his eyes on me.

"I told you last summer, Percy," he said. "You can't bait me into a fight."

"And you keep avoiding one," I noticed. "Scared your warriors will see you get whipped?"

Luke glanced at his men, and he saw I'd trapped him. If he backed down now, he would look weak. If he fought me, he'd lose valuable time chasing after Clarisse. For my part, the best I could hope for was to fight him, giving my friends a chance to escape. If anybody could think of a plan to get them out of there, Annabeth could. On the down-side, I knew how good Luke was at sword-fighting, but as I knew I was as good as him.

"I'll kill you quickly," he decided, and raised his weapon. Backbiter was a foot longer than my own sword. Its blade glinted with an evil gray and gold light where the human steel had been melded with celestial bronze. I could almost feel the blade fighting against itself, like two opposing mag-nets bound together. I didn't know how the blade had been made, but I sensed a tragedy. Someone had died in the process. Luke whistled to one of his men, who threw him a round leather and bronze shield.

He grinned at me wickedly.

"Luke," Annabeth said, "at least give him a shield." I must admit the at least part hurt my pride, she said like I was fighting a losing battle.

"Sorry, Annabeth," he said. "You bring your own equipment to this party."

The shield was a problem. Fighting two-handed with just a sword gives you more power, but fighting one handed with a shield gives you better defense and versatility. There are more moves, more options, more ways to kill. I thought back to Chiron, who'd told me to stay at camp no matter what, and learn to fight. Now I felt I'd be better if I had listened to his advice.

Luke lunged and almost killed me on the first try. His sword went under my arm, slashing through my shirt and grazing my ribs.

I jumped back, then counterattacked with Riptide, but Luke slammed my blade away with his shield. At this moment I realized I should have really listened to Chiron.

"My, Percy," Luke chided. "You're out of practice."

I groaned, saying nothing, evil as he was, Luke was right.

He came at me again with a swipe to the head. I parried, returned with a thrust. He sidestepped easily, like reading my moves.

The cut on my ribs stung. My heart was racing. When Luke lunged again, I jumped backward into the swimming pool and felt a surge of strength. I spun underwater, creating a funnel cloud, and blasted out of the deep end, straight at Luke's face.

The force of the water knocked him down, spluttering and blinded. But before I could strike, he rolled aside and was on his feet again. Not only he was more skilled and experienced, but better physically too. This was fighting a lost battle, once again I regretted for not listening to Chiron's advice.

I attacked and sliced off the edge of his shield, but that didn't even faze him. He dropped to a crouch and jabbed at my legs. Suddenly my thigh was on fire, with a pain so intense I collapsed. My jeans were ripped above the knee. I was hurt. I didn't know how badly. Luke hacked downward and I rolled behind a deck chair. I tried to stand, but my leg wouldn't take the weight.

"Perrrrrcy!" Grover bleated.

I rolled again as Luke's sword slashed the deck chair in half, metal pipes and all.

I clawed toward the swimming pool, trying hard not to black out. I'd never make it. Luke knew it, too. He advanced slowly, smiling. The edge of his sword was tinged with red.

"One thing I want you to watch before you die, Percy." He looked at the bear-man Oreius, who was still holding Annabeth and Grover by the necks. "You can eat your dinner now, Oreius. Bon appetit."

"He-he! He-he!" The bear-man lifted my friends and bared his teeth. At this moment the pain I felt was bigger than being hit by lightning, jumping at the Mississippi from 630 feet, getting poisoned by a pit scorpion… well you get the idea. Because this time the person that mattered the most was going to be killed and I could have stopped it if I wasn't selfish about leaving the camp to live a 'normal' life.

But thankfully something happened.

Whish!

A red-feathered arrow sprouted from Oreius's mouth. With a surprised look on his hairy face, he crumpled to the deck, dropping Grover and Annabeth in the process

"Brother!" Agrius wailed. By the time, Luke was stunned by the sudden turn of events, I somehow managed to crawl back into the pool, and dipped my injured tight into the water, feeling better physically and mentally too.

I took notice of the pegasus's struggles and attempted to telepathically talk to him.

_"Hey, yeah, you the black Pegasus." _I directed my thoughts at the Pegasus.

_"How can you talk to me?"_ I heard him ask telepathically.

_"Son of Poseidon. But this doesn't matter right now I'll distract Agrius, on my clue hit him."_

Without waiting for his answer I turned to the bear-man.

"Agrius!" I yelled getting his attention. "You're a big, grizzly," _NOW. _I commanded Blackjack. "motherf… ". I didn't had to finish the insult as Blackjack kicked him in his, erm, nether parts.

Everyone, Luke itself included, winced in sympathy as the hybrid fell to the ground yelling in pain.

_"GOT YA SON OF A…"_

For a split second, Luke's guards were too stunned to do anything except watch the bear twins' bodies dissolve into smoke.

Then there was a wild chorus of war cries and hooves thundering against metal. A dozen centaurs charged out of the main stairwell.

"Ponies!" Tyson cried with delight.

My mind had trouble processing everything I saw. Chiron was among the crowd, but his relatives were almost nothing like him. There were centaurs with black Arabian stallion bodies, others with gold palomino coats, others with orange-and-white spots like paint horses. Some wore brightly colored T-shirts with Day-Glo letters that said PARTY PONIES: SOUTH FLORIDA CHAPTER. Some were armed with bows, some with baseball bats, some with paintball guns. One had his face painted like a Comanche warrior and was waving a large orange Styrofoam hand making a big Number I. Another was bare-chested and painted entirely green. A third had googly-eye glasses with the eyeballs bouncing around on Slinky coils, and one of those baseball caps with soda-can-and-straw attachments on either side. They exploded onto the deck with such ferocity and color that for a moment even Luke was stunned. I couldn't tell whether they had come to celebrate or attack.

Apparently, both. As Luke was raising his sword to rally his troops, a centaur shot a custom made arrow with a leather boxing glove on the end. It smacked Luke in the face and sent him crashing into the swimming pool.

His warriors scattered. I couldn't blame them. Facing the hooves of a rearing stallion is scary enough, but when it's a centaur, armed with a bow and whooping it up in a soda-drinking hat, even the bravest warrior would retreat.

"Come get some!" yelled one of the party ponies.

They let loose with their paintball guns. A wave of blue and yellow exploded against Luke's warriors, blinding them and splattering them from head to toe. They tried to run, only to slip and fall. Chiron galloped toward Annabeth and Grover, neatly plucked them off the deck, and deposited them on his back.

I looked above to see the Pegasus I helped earlier, standing in front of me.

_"Need help?"_

"Yes please." I said getting in his back and uncapping Riptide.

Luke was crawling out of the pool.

"Attack, you fools.'" he ordered his troops. Somewhere down below deck, a large alarm bell thrummed.

I knew any second we would be swamped by Luke's reinforcements. Already, his warriors were getting over their surprise, coming at the centaurs with swords and spears drawn. Tyson slapped half a dozen of them aside, knocking them over the guardrail into Miami Bay. I used the Pegasus help to slash unaware guards. But more warriors were coming up the stairs.

"Withdraw, brethren!" Chiron said.

"You won't get away with this, horse man!" Luke shouted. He raised his sword, but got smacked in the face with another boxing glove arrow, and sat down hard in a deck chair.

I saw Tyson jumping onto a centaur, who muttered something about low carbs diet.

Luke's warriors were organizing themselves into a phalanx. But by the time they were ready to advance, the centaurs had galloped to the edge of the deck and fearlessly jumped the guardrail, as if it were a steeplechase and not ten stories above the ground. I was sure they were going to die. They plummeted toward the docks, but the centaurs hit the asphalt with hardly a jolt and galloped off, whooping and yelling taunts at the Princess Andromeda as they raced into the streets of downtown Miami.

"This isn't over, Jackson." Luke said with a sneer getting.

"No, it's not, Castellan." I said as the black pegasus took flight, following the centaurs.

* * *

As we paced towards the streets, or airspace of Miami, I repeatedly kept replaying the events of the fight at my head, thinking of my foolishness and recklessness.

After some time, we found ourselves in a trailer park at the edge of a lake. The trailers were all horse trailers, tricked out with televisions and mini-refrigerators and mosquito netting. We were in a centaur camp.

"Dude!" said a party pony as he unloaded his gear. "Did you see that bear guy? He was all like: 'Whoa, I have an arrow in my mouth!'"

The centaur with the googly-eye glasses laughed. "That was awesome! Head slam!"

The two centaurs charged at each other full-force and knocked heads, then went staggering off in different directions with crazy grins on their faces.

Chiron sighed. He set Annabeth and Grover down on a picnic blanket next to me. "I really wish my cousins wouldn't slam their heads together. They don't have the brain cells to spare."

"Chiron," I said, still stunned by the fact that he was here. "You saved us."

He gave me a dry smile. "Well now, I couldn't very well let you die, especially since you've cleared my name."

"But how did you know where we were?" Annabeth asked.

"Advanced planning, my dear. I figured you would wash up near Miami if you made it out of the Sea of Monsters alive. Almost everything strange washes up near Miami."

"Gee, thanks," Grover mumbled.

"No, no," Chiron said. "I didn't mean ... Oh, never mind. I am glad to see you, my young satyr. The point is, I was able to eavesdrop on Percy's Iris-message and trace the signal. Iris and I have been friends for centuries. I asked her to alert me to any important communications in this area. It then took no effort to convince my cousins to ride to your aid. As you see, centaurs can travel quite fast when we wish to. Distance for us is not the same as distance for humans."

I looked over at the campfire, where three party ponies were teaching Tyson to operate a paintball gun. I hoped they knew what they were getting into.

"You are all true heroes. And as soon as we get Percy fixed up, you must return to Half-Blood Hill. The centaurs shall carry you." Chiron said solemnly

"You're coming, too?" I asked.

"Oh yes, Percy. I'll be relieved to get home. My brethren here simply do not appreciate Dean Martin's music. Besides, I must have some words with Mr. D. There's the rest of the summer to plan. So much training to do... And I want to see ... I'm curious about the Fleece."

I didn't know exactly what he meant, but it made me worried about what Luke had said: I was going to let you take the Fleece ... once I was done with it.

Had he just been lying? I'd learned with Kronos there was usually a plan within a plan. The titan lord wasn't called the Crooked One for nothing. He had ways of getting people to do what he wanted without them ever realizing his true intentions.

Over by the campfire, Tyson let loose with his paintball gun. A blue projectile splattered against one of the centaurs, hurling him backward into the lake. The centaur came up grinning, covered in swamp muck and blue paint, and gave Tyson two thumbs up.

"Annabeth," Chiron said, "perhaps you and Grover would go supervise Tyson and my cousins before they, ah, teach each other too many bad habits?"

Annabeth met his eyes. Some kind of understanding passed between them.

"Sure, Chiron," Annabeth said. "Come on, goat boy."

"But I don't like paintball."

"Yes, you do." She hoisted Grover to his hooves and led him off toward the campfire.

Chiron finished bandaging my leg. "Percy, I had a talk with Annabeth on the way here. A talk about the prophecy."

The prophecy… being absolutely honest during the last days this wasn't on my mind, in my defense I was very busy with the whole defeating Polyphemus and retrieving the Fleece. Besides during the whole trip I kept thinking about how I was outclassed by Luke and how it almost cost the lives of my friends.

"Chiron." I said respectfully. "I'd like to talk about this subject privately, also there are some other things on my mind." I trailed off, causing the centaur to raise his eyebrows. "Can we talk later, at camp?"

Chiron nodded, still slightly preoccupied. "We will talk later then, Percy, we're leaving in five minutes."

I grunted a response, and got up, scanning the area around the lake and found what I've been looking for, the pegasus which helped me at Princess Andromeda.

"Hey." I greeted

_"What's up Boss?"_

"Boss? Where did that come from?"

_"You're son of my creator, besides you saved me."_

"I saved you? No. We saved each other, we cooperated, I'm not your superior." I explained to the pegasus

_"Your word is order, Boss"_

I chuckled. "You aren't letting this one go, don't you?"

_"Nope"_

"Anyway where are you going?"

_"Where are we going? I owe my life to you, besides I like you, and you look like someone who gives good treats. I like doughnuts, by the way."_

"Noted." I said chuckling before looking at the PARTY PONIES: SOUTH FLORIDA CHAPTER ready to leave.

"I never got to ask your name."

_"I have no name."_

I frowned for a minute. "Now you have, Blackjack, let's go, the sooner we reach Long Island the sooner you'll have your doughnuts."

Never I saw a pegasus fly so fast my entire life.

* * *

We arrived in Long Island just after Clarisse, thanks to the centaurs' travel powers and Blackjack's hunger.

The camp had been through a hard two weeks. The arts and crafts cabin had burned to the ground from an attack by a Draco Aionius (which as near as I could figure was Latin for "really-big-lizard-with-breath-that-blows-stuff-up"). The Big House's rooms were overflowing with wounded. The kids in the Apollo cabin, who were the best healers, had been working overtime performing first aid. Everybody looked weary and battered as we crowded around Thalia's tree.

The moment Clarisse draped the Golden Fleece over the lowest bough, the moonlight seemed to brighten, turning from gray to liquid silver. A cool breeze rustled in the branches and rippled through the grass, all the way into the valley. Everything came into sharper focus— the glow of the fireflies down in the woods, the smell of the straw-berry fields, the sound of the waves on the beach.

Gradually, the needles on the pine tree started turning from brown to green.

Everybody cheered. It was happening slowly, but there could be no doubt—the Fleece's magic was seeping into the tree, filling it with new power and expelling the poison.

Chiron ordered a twenty-four/seven guard duty on the hilltop, at least until he could find an appropriate monster to protect the Fleece. He said he'd place an ad in Olympus Weekly right away.

A big celebration proceeded, with the Ares cabin cheering on Clarisse and honoring her with a laurel wreath. The campers didn't spared me, or Annabeth, a second glance, while most of people, or demigods for that matter would be angry, I was relieved being, just for once, another one in the crowd.

Chiron surprised us all when he informed that the chariots races organized by Tantalus would continue at the campfire. Whilst I wanted to win I had most concerned things in my mind at the moment.

I approached Chiron. "I'd like to have that conversation now."

He nodded, beckoning for me to follow him.

We reached the beach after a few minutes walking in silence. I instantly felt the sea breeze giving me confidence and soothing me, if I had to guess Chiron didn't choose this place randomly.

"I had a talk with Annabeth, a talk about the prophecy…" he trailed off

"Before you say anything, I forced her to tell me, don't blame this on her." I pleaded.

He sighed. "I guess I couldn't expect to keep it a secret forever."

"The child of the old gods who turns sixteen in the prophecy… it's me?"

Chiron shook his head. "I wish I knew Percy. You're not yet sixteen. For now we must simply train you as best we can, and leave the future to the Fates."

Instead of worrying about the fates, something else Chiron said caught my attention. "I want to do it, the training I mean."

"Last summer you were keen on returning to school, may I ask why this sudden change of intentions."

"I wanted to live a normal life, as awesome camp and my powers are I'd trade everything for a regular life. But I realized I wasn't paying attention to the needs of the others." I sighed, trying to best form the words. "I hold no love for the Olympians, but my mother, Grover, you, Tyson, Annabeth… I care about you all a lot. Kronos wishes to destroy Olympus, and the entire western civilization, how many innocent people will die because of him?"

"So you're doing this for the others?" he asked me.

"For me too, I think. When you saved us Luke was about to kill Grover and Annabeth, just because I wasn't mature enough to realize the need to stay training in camp and improve. I was overpowered, Chiron, and I don't want that anymore."

The centaur nodded. "Whilst your goal of helping others is truly commendable, my personal advice is to find a reason to do it for yourself, sometimes working harder can cause even more problems than as letting things be, although I'm happy with your decision."

"That being said, can I know the prophecy?" I asked

The centaur shook his head in denial. "Sometimes the less you know, the better." I probably made an angry face at the moment because Chiron's voice softened. "Percy, you have every reason to be angry, but please try to understand, I'm not doing this on purpose, you father itself wants you to mature a bit more before informing about the prophecy itself."

At this moment I truly felt what a child of Athena was supposed to feel, need, thirst for knowledge, and this was being denied to me.

"Please tell me Chiron." I pleaded once again. "Last summer I prevented the gods from destroying themselves in a civil war. This year I helped to find the Fleece, and got your job back in the process. What else I need to do?"

"Percy." He said firmly. "Not only five minutes you were saying how easily you'd be killed by Luke, knowledge is a dangerous weapon. Kronos isn't called the Crooked One for no reason. I can't promise anything, but stay the year at camp, train like your life depended on it, then I'll see what I can do."

The easily being killed part of the speech really hurt, the helplessness I felt in seeing Oreius almost eat Grover and Annabeth alive was something I'd keep mulling on for some time. But on the other hand he promised answers should I train hard enough. Besides I couldn't help but feel exited for training with him, he trained heroes like Hercules, Achilles and Jason.

"I agree, as long as you promise to tell me when I'm ready."

* * *

The next day I woke up earlier to check on Blackjack at the stables. He insisted to carry me all the way from Miami to camp, despite the Centaur's offer to carry me, in his own words _"I'm faster than them, boss. And I want my doughnuts."_

After he ate the promised doughnuts he just collapsed from exhaustion, and had to be helped by the centaurs to the stables.

As I neared the building I heard some cursing and turned to see Silena Beauregard arguing rather loudly with one of the pegasi about his mane. Silena has black hair and sky blue eyes, although I was pretty sure she had changed them sometimes too. Silena, according to almost the entire camp was the prettiest girl in Camp Half Blood. While I was more fond of a certain kind of natural beauty, like Ann… getting off topic here…, I could see why she was so famed in the beauty department. Slim body, silky smooth hair, almost perfect facial features, extremely pretty eyes and to top it all she was extremely nice and kind hearted, unlike some other girls of the Aphrodite cabin.

"Why you little…I just want to brush your mane." She complained to a brown pegasus whilst the others present at the stable laughed at her expense.

_"Shut up woman, I'm wild, you can't tame my mane."_

I leaned against the door, amusedly watching the exchange. Apparently the pegasus had some serious rebelliousness and decided to rebel against the caretaker, in this case, Selena.

"Please Chester." She whined.

I tried to stifle a laugh but failed miserably, alerting the daughter of Aphrodite of my presence and causing her to turn and glare at me.

"What's so funny?" she demanded

I held my hands up in surrender. "Sorry, but you named the pegasus Chester." I explained

"It's a common name." she argued "What's wrong with this?"

"Chester here." I said pointing to the pegasus which glared at me in return. "Doesn't like his name."

_"Damn right I don't."_

"And how do you know it?"

"The same way you know to give perfect makeups, my parentage, you know, Poseidon, the guy with the trident?"

"I know who he is." She yelled

I once again held my hands up in surrender. "Anyway, my father created the horses from sea foam, so I can talk with them, pegasi and zebras too." I added.

Much to my surprise she apologized. "Sorry I've been having a hard day, my siblings were arguing all night about clothes, some prefer Louis Vuitton whilst otters prefer Prada, Drew started to make a case for Gucci and things spiraled out of control pretty quickly."

I didn't knew what to do with this particular information, so I just shrugged off, and walked to Chester, and proceeded to 'untame' his mane.

"HEY." Silena yelled

_"FREEDOM AT LEAST!"_

I smiled to the daughter of Aphrodite. "Pegasi have feelings too, how can we expect for them to help us in quests and around camp if they are unhappy? In some sense pegasi are just like your siblings, some like Gucci" I said pointing to a neatly pegasi eating carrots. "Whilst others like Prada." I said patting Chester's head causing him to nuzzle affectionately at my chest.

"Wow." She said. "Never knew the thick headed son of Poseidon was capable of giving such deep animal rights speeches."

"I guess spending time with Grover really helps." I mumbled, causing her to giggle.

"Go rest, I can take care of the stables for the day." I said.

"No, but I accept your help."

For the next few hours I got to know Silena a lot more, and I had to admit she was a nice person, of course she retained some of the less pleasant traits of the children of Aphrodite such as endlessly blabbering about fashion and constantly asking me about my relationship with Annabeth, but she was nice though.

I never came to think how easy my life at camp would have been if I stayed at the stables, since I was capable of communicating with the pegasi I was also able to keep things better than Silena was despite her tidiness. We also talked a lot about our lives outside of camp, Silena was a year rounder, which meant I'd be seeing plenty of her for the course of the year. She told me about her father, who owned a Chocolate store and how she opted to be a year rounder as she disagreed about how 'popular girls' mistreated others at high school. While most of guys would probably kill to be in my place, talking with the prettiest girl in Camp (second in my particular opinion) I didn't thought much of it, just glad to have an possible friend for the year, as Annabeth was set to leave to study in New York and Grover probably would have to resume his search for Pan.

As we talked I noticed a figure watching us. I instantly palmed riptide, still in his pen form.

"Anyway, I'm saying that despite the slightly inferior material, Louis Vuitton is still better than Gucci because…"

"Silena, I remembered that I have an appointment, see you soon." I said quickly, leaving the confused girl behind.

* * *

I trailed behind the figure, it seemed aware of me following him but made no movement to run, instead stopping by the beach, the figure turned around, revealing a middle-aged guy in a postal carrier outfit was leaning against the stable door. He was slim, with curly black hair under his white pith helmet, and he had a mailbag slung over his shoulder.

"Hermes?" I asked in confusion.

"The one and only."

I frowned. "I think you want to talk about Luke."

"You think correctly, I assume you weren't able to talk some sense into him."

I shook my head. "We fought, he almost killed me. Your son is a heck of a swordsman though."

"That he is." He acknowledged.

"Still, I'm sorry to say this to you Hermes, you gave us all the help we needed, but Luke… he's truly changed, for the worse."

"I see." He said impassively.

"Hermes, you treated me well, so I will say this to you. He resents you, like most of the demigods resent their parents, but he's bitter. I resent my father, Annabeth sometimes resents Athena too, but this is not excuse for aligning with Kronos. Luke seemed to be a good person before he turned, yet I next time I see him I'll try to kill him. I hold no love for your son but my friends, and even Chiron does, so the best I can offer him is a clean death, and preventing him from tainting his own name even more."

Hermes nodded grimly. "Parents always have hopes for their children, Luke is my favorite, yet…" he trailed off.

I decided not to touch this subject anymore as Hermes was clearly struggling with his words.

"Anyway, I came here to deliver a letter."

He took an electronic signature pad from his mailbag and handed it to me. "Sign there, please."

I picked up the stylus before realizing it was entwined with a pair of tiny green snakes. "Ah!"

I dropped the pad.

"Ouch" said George.

"Really, Percy" Martha scolded. "Would you want to be dropped on the floor of a horse stable?"

"Oh, uh, sorry." I didn't much like touching snakes, but I picked up the pad and the stylus again. Martha and George wriggled under my fingers, forming a kind of pencil grip like the ones my special ed teacher made me use in second grade.

"Did you bring me a rat?" George asked.

"No …" I said. "Uh, we didn't find any."

"What about a guinea pig?'"

"George!" Martha chided. "Don't tease the boy."

I signed my name and gave the pad back to Hermes.

In exchange, he handed me a sea-blue envelope.

My fingers trembled. Even before I opened it, I could tell it was from my father. I could sense his power in the cool blue paper, as if the envelope itself had been folded out of an ocean wave.

"Good luck tomorrow," Hermes said, referring to the Chariot race. "though you'll excuse me if I root for the Hermes cabin."

"And don't be too discouraged when you read it, dear," Martha told me. "He does have your interests at heart."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

Don't mind her, George said. And next time, remember, snakes work for tips.

"Enough, you two," Hermes said. "Good-bye, Percy. For now."

Small white wings sprouted from his pith helmet. He began to glow, and I knew enough about the gods to avert my eyes before he revealed his true divine form. With a brilliant white flash he was gone, and I was alone at the beach, with the envelope still in my hands.

I stared at the blue envelope in my hands. It was addressed in strong but elegant handwriting that I'd seen once before, on a package Poseidon had sent me last summer.

_Percy Jackson_

_c/o Camp Half-Blood_

_Farm Road 3.141_

_Long Island, New York 11954_

An actual letter from my father. Maybe he would tell me I'd done a good job getting the Fleece. He'd explain about Tyson, or apologize for not talking to me sooner. There were so many things that I wanted that letter to say.

I opened the envelope and unfolded the paper.

Two simple words were printed in the middle of the page:

"_Brace Yourself"_

At that moment I knew I made the right decision by staying in camp the entire year.

* * *

The next morning, everybody was buzzing about the chariot race, though they kept glancing nervously toward the sky like they expected to see Stymphalian birds gathering. None did. It was a beautiful summer day with blue sky and plenty of sunshine. The camp had started to look the way it should look: the meadows were green and lush; the white columns gleamed on the Greek buildings; dryads played happily in the woods.

As Annabeth, her eyes glued to me; as if analyzing something; and I drove onto the track, I couldn't help admiring the work Tyson had done on the Athena chariot. The carriage gleamed with bronze reinforcements. The wheels were realigned with magical suspension so we glided along with hardly a bump. The rigging for the horses was so perfectly balanced that the team turned at the slightest tug of the reins.

Tyson had also made us two javelins, each with three buttons on the shaft. The first button primed the javelin to explode on impact, releasing razor wire that would tangle and shred an opponent's wheels. The second button produced a blunt (but still very painful) bronze spearhead designed to knock a driver out of his carriage. The third button brought up a grappling hook that could be used to lock onto an enemy's chariot or push it away.

I figured we were in pretty good shape for the race, but Tyson still warned me to be careful.

The other chariot teams had plenty of tricks up their togas.

Then Annabeth turned to me. "Ready, Seaweed Brain?"

"Always, Wise Girl."

The race ended with our win as Tyson's wristwatch shield saved me in a crucial moment. As we were cheered Annabeth turned to me and gave me a kiss on the cheek, causing me to probably blush and the camp to roar and cheer.

She then whispered in my ear. "Seaweed Brain, meet me after the feast at the lake."

I gulped, this could either turn very well or very bad real soon.

* * *

The feast went by a blur, yet it was painful to explain my mother that I wasn't coming back home next year, I could feel the sadness in her voice and that alone almost made me reconsider my decision. However a reassuring hand in my shoulder from Chiron reminded me of the talk at the beach and Poseidon's letter. I reassured her that I'd always come back for some holidays and that this, in a long run was the better decision.

In another sad note Tyson informed that he was leaving to work at Poseidon's Forges right away. While I was happy for him I was somewhat jealous of him receiving father's attention and already felt like missing him, although sleeping at cabin 3 would be much easier without his snores.

Before heading to the lake I was approached by Grover, who offered to cancel the empathy link between us. I accepted the offer, as I felt my life would be in bigger danger now and didn't want to drag Grover, or any of my friends for that matter along. Even more when dying could also take Grover's life alongside mine.

As the celebration came by at an end I went to the lake to meet with Annabeth. My mind kept playing several possibilities of reasons why she wanted to meet me there and the ADHD definitively didn't help at that matter.

I care about Annabeth, a lot. Still this quest left a bitter taste at my mouth. When I saw her vision from the siren's song it pained me to see Luke there, and most of all the fact I wasn't present. Of course we had each other backs, but ever since the quest to retrieve the Master Bolt, I perhaps have wanted our relationship to develop into maybe something more, although not even I was sure of this, at all, sometimes it was a possibility, sometimes a dream.

Ever since I decided to become a better warrior and demigod, in general I found somehow easier to pour my feeling in this writing. Anyway, I doubt someone would ever read this.

But the truth is that most of my ill feeling about Luke wasn't that he was evil, or a traitor, it was because he hurt Annabeth and she still cared about him.

"Took long enough, Seaweed Brain." She said teasingly.

I couldn't complain my smile, she looked even prettier than the usual. "Wise girl." I said in a mock bow.

She lightly punched my arm, and just like that all my worries vanished right away.

"So, Wise Girl, what you wanted to talk about?"

"Percy, am I your friend?"

"What kind of question is that?"

"Answer me Percy, I'm your friend? Do you trust me?" She asked with a somewhat agonic tone

"Annabeth." I said quickly. "You're my best friend, and I trust you with my life."

She smiled. Before frowning again. "Then tell me why you're acting weirdly the last few days." She demanded

"_Crap! Play dumb."_

"Acting weirdly?" I asked. "I feel pretty normal, although I feel like I'm getting more handsome everyday."

"_Smooth, real smooth."_

"Don't play dumb with me, Percy." She raised her voice tone

"_At least I tried."_

"I really can't deceive you." I noted

"Daughter of Athena."

I took a deep breath. "I kept thinking about some things, and I decided to stay at Camp the entire year." I admitted, it wasn't the entire truth, but I hoped she would be content with it.

"Well?" she asked impatiently. "Why?"

I sighed, so much trying to fool a curious daughter of Athena. "Because I lost to Luke, and you and Grover almost got killed."

I noticed she immediately tensing at the mention of my enemy.

"Percy…" she trailed off. "Luke wasn't always like that, he was kind hearted, he's being controlled by Kronos."

At this moment all my uneasiness turned into anger. "He tries to destroy the Olympus, he tried to kill me twice, and most important of all he tried to kill you and you still defend him?" I asked incredulously, raising my voice

"Percy." She said fearfully. "Try to understand, he's being controlled…"

"Because he let himself fall into it." I cut her off. "Don't you think that Kronos talked to me too? He's just egoistical enough to fall for it."

"Percy, I'm not giving up on him." She said determinedly.

"Your choice, Annabeth." I replied bitterly. "But let me tell you right now that the next time I see Luke one of us won't leave alive." I stopped for a moment, realizing I was probably walking a one way road here, but my bitterness, pride and jealously took the best of me. "Hopefully for it can be him, since you want your future to be with him…"

Annabeth turned red, I thought she was blushing until she slapped my right cheek, she was red from anger. "You're a jerk."

I did a two finger to the forehead's side salute. "That I am." Then I turned to walk away in anger, although I could almost swear I heard some sobbing.

* * *

As I slept alone as the only occupant of cabin three I realized how crappy a day can turn with a few events. From Elysium to Tartarus in less than twelve hours, it must have been a record of sorts.

There was a banging on the door. Grover flew inside without waiting for permission. "Percy!" he stammered. "Annabeth ... on the hill ... she ..."

The look in his eyes told me something was terribly wrong. Annabeth had been on guard duty that night, protecting the Fleece. If something had happened…

I ripped off the covers, my blood like ice water in my veins. I threw on some clothes while

Grover tried to make a complete sentence, but he was too stunned, too out of breath. "She's lying there ... just lying there ..."

I ran outside and raced across the central yard, Grover right behind me. Dawn was just breaking, but the whole camp seemed to be stirring. Word was spreading. Something huge had happened. A few campers were already making their way toward the hill, satyrs and nymphs and heroes in a weird mix of armor and pajamas.

I heard the clop of horse hooves, and Chiron galloped up behind us, looking grim.

"Is it true?" he asked Grover.

Grover could only nod, his expression dazed.

I tried to ask what was going on, but Chiron grabbed me by the arm and effortlessly lifted me onto his back. Together we thundered up Half-Blood Hill, where a small crowd had started to gather. The entire time I prayed for all the Gods that Annabeth was safe, if she was gone, and our last conversation was like that… I'd never forgive myself.

I expected to see the Fleece missing from the pine tree, but it was still there, glittering in thefirst light of dawn. The storm had broken and the sky was blood red.

"Curse the titan lord," Chiron said. "He's tricked us again, given himself another chance to control the prophecy."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"The Fleece," he said. "The Fleece did its work too well."

We galloped forward, everyone moving out of our way. There at the base of the tree, a girl was lying unconscious. Another girl in Greek armor was kneeling next to her.

Blood roared in my ears. I couldn't think straight. Annabeth had been attacked? But why was the Fleece still there?

The tree itself looked perfectly fine, whole and healthy, suffused with the essence of the Golden Fleece.

"It healed the tree," Chiron said, his voice ragged. "And poison was not the only thing it purged."

Then I realized Annabeth wasn't the one lying on the ground. She was the one in armor, kneeling next to the unconscious girl. When Annabeth saw us, she ran to Chiron. "It... she ... just suddenly there ..."

I somehow found strength and bear hugged Annabeth before she could talk. "I'm sorry Annabeth, I'm so sorry." I said.

I expected to suffer from her anger, or even indifference, but when she started sobbing into my hug, I felt like the weight of Mt. Atlas had been lifted off my back. "I'm sorry too, Percy." She said returning the hug.

Chiron cleared his throat, causing us to break the hug and blush.

I then remembered the girl lying on the ground and knelt next to her. She had short black hair and freckles across her nose. She was built like a long distance runner, lithe and strong, and she wore clothes that were somewhere between punk and Goth—a black T-shirt, black tattered jeans, and a leather jacket with buttons from a bunch of bands I'd never heard of.

She wasn't a camper. I didn't recognize her from any of the cabins. And yet I had the strangest feeling I'd seen her before...

"It's true," Grover said, panting from his run up the hill. "I can't believe ..."

Nobody else came close to the girl.

I put my hand on her forehead. Her skin was cold, but my fingertips tingled as if they were burning.

"She needs nectar and ambrosia," I said. She was clearly a half-blood, whether she was a camper or not. I could sense that just from one touch. I didn't understand why everyone was acting so scared.

I took her by the shoulders and lifted her into sitting position, resting her head on my shoulder.

"Come on!" I yelled to the others. "What's wrong with you people? Let's get her to the Big House."

No one moved, not even Chiron. They were all too stunned.

Then the girl took a shaky breath. She coughed and opened her eyes.

Her irises were startlingly blue—electric blue.

The girl stared at me in bewilderment, shivering and wild-eyed. "Who—"

"I'm Percy," I said. "You're safe now."

"Strangest dream ..."

"It's okay."

"Dying."

"No," I assured her. "You're okay. What's your name?"

That's when I knew. Even before she said it.

The girl's blue eyes stared into mine, and I understood what the Golden Fleece quest had been about. The poisoning of the tree. Everything. Kronos had done it to bring another chess piece into play—another chance to control the prophecy.

Even Chiron, Annabeth, and Grover, who should've been celebrating this moment, were too

shocked, thinking about what it might mean for the future. And I was holding someone who was destined to be my best friend, or possibly my worst enemy.

"I am Thalia," the girl said. "Daughter of Zeus."

* * *

**Well, that's all for today, rather than babbling endlessly about my this chapter as I'd usually do, I will instead attempt a different approach. **

**Please review, and if you do tell if you prefer for me to answer them next chapter or by a private message. Also feel free to contact me about this fiction anytime, I promise to answer as fast as possible.**


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